At night, the blues seem extra cool and the reds seem extra hot.  At least part of the attraction of low-key, moody images is the question of what, exactly, might be lurking in the shadows.  Perhaps the other half of the attraction is the stunning, almost explosive effect of bright lights against those same shadows. 

For the photographer, the challenge has always been that exposures that show shadow details correctly also render lights as big, white blobs of over-exposed background.  And correctly exposed whites result in big, black blobs of featureless murk.  Similarly, in full-light photography, photographers compose images by balancing visual masses and leading lines in pleasing patterns.  In night photography, the question becomes how to balance the size and strength of the consuming darks against the overpowering visual weight of 1000 watts of light. 

The promise of those lurid neons and almost-edible tungstens, along with the implied hazard hiding in those mars black shadows, has led photog-raphers to both science and serendipity in the search for night photos that “work.”  By both craft and the good luck that favors the prepared mind, Robert von Sternberg’s night images . . . work! 

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